Selective Participation: Presidential Primary Voters as a Subset of General Election Voters

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Presidential primary voters constitute a subset of presidential election voters. Two hypotheses are explored to explain this selective pattern of participation. One hypothesis centers on characteristics of individual voters, whereas the other centers on characteristics of the political environment. The research supports the second hypothesis for Republicans, who were mobilized to vote in the primaries by aspects of the campaign and legal structures. Participation in Democratic primaries, however, was influenced by both contextual and individual factors. Differences between the 1980 Democratic and Republican nomination races are suggested as reasons for the divergent explanations found for participation in the two parties' primaries.